This is a picture of the curtains in the kitchen. As you can see… you can’t. The wood shelf/valance that is there hides the rod. I was going to take it down but who ever put it up nailed it from every possible direction! Taking it down would involve filling holes, removing wall paper and painting. I will take on plenty of new projects but I am still sick of painting from when we moved in, so for now it stays.

Using the drop cloth for the fabric has worked well. It got too cold much faster than I anticipated so I didn’t get the loops sewn to the back so they work as a roman shade rather than a tie back curtain. The one above the sink is done. Pictured here.

I still hope to use some brown paint and paint a silhouette of a tree with branches reaching through all three panels. That’s permanent and I haven’t got my game plan together yet.

This window in our “work room” or craft room works well with the tree. You will have to excuse the curtains, the belong in a different room but for demonstration sake I hung them here. With a few twigs or a round of dried flowers or leaves for tie back they would be simple but kinda cute. For the mean time, it doesn’t get above -20 out, so keeping the cold out and the warm in is my goal. I plan to revamp the window treatments come spring, when it’s still frozen out but warming up.

Before Christianity was known people were decorating their houses with greenery around the winter solstice which usually fall around December 21-22 or so. The solstice was a celebrated belief that the sun god ( different cultures had different names for such) who falls ill in the fall was beginning to recover. The hanging of evergreen boughs was a sign that again the days would get longer and warmer and again plants would turn green and full of life. Thus praise and thankfulness to the sun god, god of agriculture ect.

In the 16th century Germans began bringing evergreen trees as we know Christmas trees today. Martin Luther was believed to be the first noted person to add candles to the tree. It is said he was inspired by the stars one night as he was walking through the trees and wanted to share the experience with his family.

The first record of a tree being on display in America was in the 1830’s in a German settlement in Pennsylvania. Even though Christmas trees were common in the traditions of Christians in Germany they were still seen as a pagan symbol in America through the 1840’s. The German settlements had Christmas trees earlier but they were not a public display. Some Americans were working so had to rid all pagan aspects that any observation of the Christmas holiday aside from a church service was penalized. This by a law passed in Massachusetts in 1659, included any signs of joy, decorations carols ect.

It wasn’t until the 1840’s when Queen Victoria and German Prince Albert were pictured with their family gathered around a Christmas tree that the tree was here to stay.

The trees were mainly decorated with candles and homemade ornaments. Most Germans still decorated their trees with the more traditional marzipan cookies, nuts, apples and strings of dyed popcorn. With the advent of electricity came tree lights allowing the trees to be lighted for days on end and the Christmas trees in town squares began. From there the tree tradition exploded and so did the size.

In Europe Christmas trees averaged about 4 feet, in America the stood floor to ceiling (we’ve “super sizing” everything since the beginning). The outdoor trees on display continue to tower above.

I heard both sides of the real or fake tree argument.

One thought is real trees are the tradition and they are “green” as there are always more growing. The wonderful smell of pine and homemade cookies; a warm comforting Christmas feeling.

The other thought is why cut a tree for one month. The cost of the tree, if you don’t have the luxury of having one on your property to cut each year and most don’t. Then there’s the safety aspect. Most house fires over Christmas can be linked to overloading the electrical outlets, Aunt Martha leaving a burner on in the kitchen, then setting something other than a pot on it and dry Christmas trees. Some most people know the tree though now dead still draws water to keep its needles longer. A fireplace that is used often will dry the air in no time and the tree as well. It sometimes slips peoples minds to keep the tree watered with so many other things going on.

Then there’s holiday clean up:

put the tree in a box in the Christmas closet (the hard to get to spot under the stairs)

or

haul the dry tree through the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the entry way and finally to the yard, where by this time there are no needles left on the tree they are scattered like flower petals down a wedding isle through your house, where it will sit until spring when you decide where your going to dump it. Maybe you live in town where the poor garbage man has to deal with all the Christmas leftovers.

By the pro’s and con’s list the fake tree seems to win. I would prefer a real tree anyway. I like the smell of pine in the living room and the warmth the tree seems to bring. Being from Minnesota I have always taken trees for granted. Having lived in North Dakota for 10 years one would think I would be hugging the trees now that I’m back. I’m still not. I would have no problem clearing a couple few (more than 6 if you get it).

It took a few years to get used to the wide open spaces but when I did I absolutely loved it! (The east side of ND is still flat and boring, sorry) The middle and west is beautiful! The sunrises and sunsets are amazing. I still favor Montana sky above all else but I found lots of beauty in the Dakota’s.

One might also think the my husband being from the wide open wouldn’t mind clearing a few trees around the farm. (especially since we have a nice crop of Christmas trees around part of our hay field, with them gone I could get a few more bails out of it) Wrong again! He likes the trees each and every one!

I’m too cheap to buy a real tree every year, the Mister like the trees where they are on our land and our wood stove in the living room burns all day long. We have a fake tree. Hiding pine scented car air freshener trees in it is not the same, so don’t bother with those.

Never the less the tree is up, decorated and glowing. The room is warm with the stove and well I didn’t do any Christmas baking this year, selfishly because I can’t eat it. But the tea smells good too ( not like cookies but hopefully next year).

Don’t mind the tree in the kitchen, the curtains will be done soon and then I will wash the floor. Well, let me back up a bit. In the kitchen I have three large windows, one of which is the door to the deck, all lined up for a great view of the deck, trees and lake. The problem with them is its winter and winter here means cold. Very, very cold. These windows let a little of the cold in. Hence the curtains.

I knew I wanted a medium weight fabric of neutral color that would add a bit of texture to the room as well. ( Before we got rid of cable TV, we watched a little HGTV some evenings). I also knew I’m broke and these needed to last a long time and be relatively cheap at the same time. My genius ideas struck again…Painting drop cloth! (and most of my genius ideas are accidents gone good 🙂 ) It was everything I was looking for; neutral, texture, medium weight, durable and best of all cheap! For about $30 I had enough fabric to do all three large windows and make a matching valance for the window above the sink.

After some thought I decided to make a shade style window cover rather than draw back curtains which allowed me to use a little less fabric and still fully cover the window when needed.

I’m not going to go into great detail of how to make these shade right now. That can be explained in a future post.

The shades were cut and ready to hang to be finished, however I was lacking a curtain rod to hang them. Needing a rod approximately 10 feet long and having nothing around here of that length, I grabbed my axe and headed down the driveway. There is the perfect patch of young trees about half way between the house and the road and in that patch a tree I deemed straight (enough) to use. So I chopped it down and drug it to the house.

There is not much besides chopping and hauling firewood that I find has to be done when its below 0. So as anyone in my shoes would do, I pulled the tree onto the back deck and into the kitchen. I’m not about to limb this tree in the yard!

So limbs off and I’m ready to cut to length. My wood saw is not anywhere to be found. So here I sit, shades ready to be hung and finished, tree and limbs in the kitchen and no saw.

I did find a few things to do with the little branches before the remains will go to the stove. Those pictures will come soon.

The rest of the shades will be “To Be Continued” after Thanksgiving, when I can borrow a saw from dad.

For now I will scrub the floor around the tree because in my stroke of genius I forgot those great little buds are sticky when the fall off the branch and get stepped on. 🙁

Farm Shirts are Available for a short time!

Bakery Menu

Welcome!

WildFlower Farm is a humble little farm in Puposky, Minnesota. Its home to our family and a variety of barn yard animals. This is where I traded my chef hat for a straw hat and began to farm. After years of a career as a professional pastry chef and bakery owner it was time for a change of pace. My love for baking lead me to a love of good food and grains.
My journey has been amazing and is coming full circle as I am able to plant the seed, harvest the fruits and feed my family. I have been truly blessed with a supportive husband and a growing family to share this adventure with.